Secrets of Concorde Agreement exposed?

Formula One's inner workings have been partially exposed following the decision by veteran journalist, Forrest Bond, to publish the 1997 version of the Concorde Agreement - the highly confidential document that governs how F1 works and which up to now has not been made public.

Although copies have allegedly been leaked to the media until now no one has ever admitted having a copy.

Members of the public though can get the document in full by going to www.racefax.com. The only snag is the site will only send copies to subscribers. It will not be published on the site itself.

Writing on his website, Bond noted that the current dispute between F1 supremo, Bernie Ecclestone and the Grand Prix Manufacturers' Association, was the reason for his decision to publish it.

"While we [the media] are not bound by the confidentially agreement, we chose to observe it, but recent events surrounding the dispute between the FIA/Bernie Ecclestone and the Grand Prix Manufacturers Association, have led us [at racefax.com] to the decision to make the Concorde available, as a service only to our subscribers," he explained.

"The Concorde Agreement will not be posted on the site, but rather will be sent only on individual request."

The 1997 Concorde Agreement is however somewhat out of date, as changes were made in 1998, when it was extended to 2007. Ferrari, Williams, Midland MF1 Racing, Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso Scuderia have also signed up to a new Concorde Agreement this year, one that runs from 2008-2012. McLaren-Mercedes, Renault, Toyota, Honda and BMW Sauber have yet to commit to the latest version.